Sweeter Than Halloween Candy
by iloveromance
Summary: The day after he and Sally spent the night in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Linus worries that Sally won't want to be his friend anymore. Can he find a way to tell her that he's sorry? AU continuation of "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."


Linus sat up in his bed, having no idea how he'd gotten there. The last thing he remembered was sitting in the most sincere pumpkin patch he could find, waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive. But the Great Pumpkin never came. And so he was forced to endure Sally's shouting and complaining until Charlie Brown arrived in the pumpkin patch with Lucy and their friends and took Sally home. It really was true; the fear of a woman scored was nothing compared to the fear of a woman who was cheated out of tricks or treats.

He hadn't meant to ruin Sally's Halloween and how was he supposed to know that it was the first year that she'd been allowed to go trick or treating with her big brother and their friends? Linus had never trick or treated. He spent all of his Halloweens sitting in pumpkin patches. And he was beginning to wonder if he'd waited his life away. He liked sitting with Sally because she believed him. She really and truly believed that there was a Great Pumpkin. No one else did. They all said the same thing. "You're wasting your time; the Great Pumpkin is a fake!" But Linus refused to believe that. If his faith started to crumble even in the slightest, the Great Pumpkin might never come.

He hadn't counted on the rustle in the pumpkin patch, or the figure that rose up from it. But all that came was a beagle! Darn that Snoopy, always ruining his fun! Now he'd have to wait until next year for the Great Pumpkin to arrive; if in fact the Great Pumpkin decided to come at all. But one thing was for certain. Linus was going to make sure that the Great Pumpkin knew that he was upset about being passed over. And Linus Van Pelt was going to demand to know where the pumpkin patch was; the one that was the most sincere. He would demand it, even if he had to write a letter to the President of the United States of America!

"LINUS! SCHOOL!"

He groaned at the shrill voice of his crabby older sister. Oh why must morning come so early? Especially when he'd spent all night sitting in the pumpkin patch? Wearily he climbed out of bed, barely aware of his movements as he changed into his school clothes, brushed his teeth and slugged into the kitchen. Fortunately his Sugar Bombs were right where he liked them, on the bottom shelf of the cupboard where he could reach them. Crabby Lucy always thought it was funny to put them on the top so that he'd have to resort to using his trusty blanket as a slingshot to get it down. But to her amazement, it worked every time.

Under Lucy's glare, Linus poured a bowl of Sugar Bombs and covered them with milk. He sat down at the table, surprised to see Snoopy making a breakfast of pancakes, waffles, toast, eggs and all sorts of things. All for himself, for Snoopy never shared with anyone. Crazy dog. What was he doing in the Van Pelt household anyway? He was Charlie Brown's dog!

Linus had barely taken two bites of his cereal when he heard;

"HURRY UP, LINUS! YOU'LL MISS THE BUS!"

Quickly Linus finished the rest of his cereal and jumped off of his chair. But as he tried to grab his brown bag lunch, Lucy stopped him. "HERE!" She said, thrusting a plastic bag at him.

He looked at the bag in surprise. "What's this?"

"Your stupid Halloween candy! You're _welcome_!" She shouted, barely giving him a chance to react.

Now he was really confused. "Halloween candy? But I never-."

"YOU BLOCKHEAD! I KNOW YOU DIDN'T GO TRICK OR TREATING WITH US BECAUSE YOU WERE SITTING IN THAT PUMPKIN PATCH ALL NIGHT WAITING FOR THE GREAT PUMPKIN TO COME!"

"I-I know, but-."

"You missed tricks or treats and then you missed the Halloween party! There was bobbing for apples and everything!"

He lowered his head. He didn't want to be reminded of that horrible night, when he'd ruined Sally's Halloween.

"Did the Great Pumpkin come by?"

"No…" He mumbled, not even caring if she heard him. But heard him she did.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Lucy was laughing so hard that she was holding her stomach, humiliating him even further. Hadn't he been through enough?

"All right, I get it. But he'll come next year! You can count on that!" Linus said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

But Lucy smirked. "Sure he will."

Linus looked down at the bag in her hand. "What's that?"

"You don't deserve this but _here_! _Take it_!" She ordered, thrusting the bag out to him.

He looked at the bag, which contained several pieces of candy; including a chocolate bar! His favorite! Now he was really confused.

"Why are you giving me this?"

She rolled her eyes, a sure sign of annoyance. "When we went trick or treating I asked every house for an extra piece of candy for my blockhead brother. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was?"

Linus couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Y-you did that? For me?"

"Yes, and if you tell anyone I'll pound you!"

"Oh I won't!" Linus promised, suddenly feeling differently about his big sister.

"Now hurry up or you'll miss the bus!"

Overcome with love for his sister, he threw his arms around her. "Thank you, Lucy! You can't know what this means to me!"

And as she always did when he showed any sort of sentiment at all toward her, Lucy began to bawl.

"Come on, Lucy don't cry."

She brushed the tears from her cheeks and glared at him. "Don't you dare tell anyone about this, you got that? I'll slug you!" She held up her fist and showed it to him, making him flinch.

"Got it." he said, trying to keep his knees from shaking.

They rushed out the door and as he hurried to catch up with her he gripped the bag of candy, his book bag and his blanket tightly in his hands. He didn't want anything to happen to them; especially the Halloween candy. The chances were very good that Lucy wouldn't do something this nice for anyone for a very long time. He was certain that the big fellow with the white beard who says _Ho Ho Ho_ would be taking note of what she'd done.

When the bus dropped him off at school, Lucy rushed off leaving Linus alone. But then he spotted Charlie Brown and he ran to greet his friend.

"Hey Charlie Brown!"

"Hey Linus! You look tired."

"I am." Linus admitted.

"Did you stay all night in the pumpkin patch?"

"Yep."

"And the Great Pumpkin never came?"

"Nope."

"Don't worry Linus. I've done some pretty stupid things in my life too."

Now Linus was really mad. "STUPID? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, STUPID?"

"Hey, calm down Linus! I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry that I insulted your belief and it's not worth hurting our friendship over. I have to respect what you believe."

Linus held out his hand. "I'm sorry too, Charlie Brown. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

The two friends shook hands and were starting their walk into the school together when he spotted Sally in the distance. He stopped walking and stared at her.

"Charlie Brown? Is your sister still mad at me?"

"I think _mad_ is an understatement." Charlie Brown said. "She complained all night about missing tricks or treats and the Halloween party and said that she's going to be old by the time she gets to do it again."

"Old? But she'll only be six!"

"That's what I told her but apparently girls have different feelings about age than boys do."

"Oh…"

"So if I were you I'd steer clear of her. There's no telling what she'll do." Charlie Brown advised.

He followed Charlie Brown into the school, where sure enough Sally avoided him as much as possible. Even during Miss Othmar's instructions on how to do the art project,

Sally didn't even come near him. He found that he almost missed her asking him how to do the project, even after Miss Othmar had explained it three or four times. And the way Sally would sharpen her pencil five or six times during class. Perhaps Linus needed to show her the proper way to hold her pencil while she is learning to write so that the lead wouldn't break so easily. But the way she was ignoring him was driving him crazy. He had to apologize, but he knew that she'd never accept it. She'd probably scream and yell, just as she'd done in the pumpkin patch and he'd never hear the end of it.

So when recess came he grabbed his bag of candy and went to sit on the bench by himself. Never had he felt so alone. He wanted to apologize so badly but he didn't dare. It would only make her madder. He sat on the bench and opened the bag, reaching inside for a chocolate bar. It smelled so good that he could hardly wait for-

He stopped, watching Sally and a group of kids. She looked as though she was about to cry. What could possibly be wrong?

He jumped off of the bench and walked over to them, staying hidden so that he wouldn't be noticed. But he could hear the conversation loud and clear. The kids were talking about Halloween and how they'd dressed as ghosts, goblins, black cats and witches and all the candy they had gotten. And then to make things worse they started telling her all about the Halloween party! But it got even worse when Sally burst into tears and went running to the nearest tree. She sat down crying while the kids just laughed and walked the other way.

And when he looked down at the bag of candy in his hand he knew just what to do.

He walked over to where she was and sat down beside her. "Sally…"

She looked up at him. "Go away, Linus!"

"Look, Sally-."

"I SAID 'GO AWAY'!"

"I will, I promise, but I have something for you."

"What? A note from the Great Pumpkin about why he sent a _beagle_ to the pumpkin patch? I WAS ROBBED!"

Linus looked around, embarrassed to see that they were being watched. He had to act fast. "Sally, I'm sorry. I thought he would come, I really did. Our pumpkin patch was the most sincere one that I could find. I don't know why he didn't pick it! I'm sorry you missed tricks or treats."

"I missed the Halloween party too!" Sally wailed.

"Yes, you did, but hopefully this will make up for it." He held out the bag.

"What's this?"

"Halloween candy."

"But we didn't-."

"I know. Lucy gave it to me. And now I'm giving it to you."

"Why?"

"Because I feel bad that you didn't get to go the Halloween party and missed out on tricks or treats. And that you stayed with me all night, waiting for the Great Pumpkin. You were the only one who believed. But I guess you don't believe anymore, do you?"

She looked at the candy and then at him. "Well…"

"I'm sorry, Sally. I really am. Are we still friends?"

"Well…"

"Please?"

"Well… Okay."

Linus beamed with pride. "Good, I'm glad! I'd hate to lose you as a friend, Sally."

Her eyes sparkled. "Really, Linus? You really and truly mean it?"

"I really and truly mean it. Now there are still eighteen minutes of recess left, so why don't you enjoy some of your candy? I'll be over here on this bench."

He walked over to the bench and sat down, sulking. How could he have been so dumb? Maybe there really wasn't a Great Pumpkin after all. Maybe he was just being silly in believing in something that wasn't real. But no one had ever seen Santa Claus at their houses on Christmas Eve either and practically everybody believed in him.

Suddenly he felt someone sit down beside him. "Sally, what are you doing here?"

She smiled and held out her bag of candy. "I wanted to share my candy with you, Linus."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"You're my friend, Linus. And friends share with each other, don't they?"

"Yes, I guess they do."

They sat and ate their candy in silence until she spoke again.

"Linus?"

"Yes, Sally?"

"Are you going to sit in the pumpkin patch next year and wait for the Great Pumpkin?"

"Yes, I suppose I will. Hopefully next year it will finally happen and I'll get to see him with my own eyes! Wouldn't that be something?"

"Would it be okay if I sat with you again next year?"

Linus couldn't believe it. "Are you sure, Sally? Are you really sure?"

"How many days is it till Halloween again?"

"Well ,today is November 1st, so that means that there are 364 days till Halloween."

"So if we wrote to him once a week…."

"That's fifty-two letters." Linus said. "He's bound to get one of them."

"Oh boy oh boy! I'm going to start writing my letter right away! Thanks Linus! And thank you for the candy!"

"You're wel-." But she was gone, hurrying back into the school with the other kids. He hadn't even heard the bell ring. But perhaps it was because he was much too excited about next Halloween. Maybe Sally would even let him hold her hand.

 **THE END**


End file.
